General Care Discussion :: Very new to turtle care-- Need advice!

[AmyA2020]

My kids and I rescued this red eared slider from being a snapping turtle's breakfast when he was just a hatchling and now he's 1 1/2 years old. I've never owned a turtle nor have been around pet turtles, so I have only a basic (googled) understanding of what they need. I thought he was doing great since he's so active, but yesterday I noticed a red spot on his shell that looks like a wound. He's the only turtle in the tank and unless he got in a fight with his rock, I have no idea how it got there. After a quick online search, I've decided to rub Iodine on the spot twice a day for a couple of weeks to keep it clean, but the quick search made me realize he looks nothing like the other red eared sliders I see. Does his shell look like that because he's being overfed?

Tank size is 20 gallons (he's grown a lot in just a year's time).
He has a filter and his water is from a filtered well. Occasionally I'll put algae control solution for fish in the water when I noticed green starting in the corners of the tank or on his basking rock.
I clean his tank once a week.
He has a UVB light and a basking light that are on a timer.
His tank water stays around 72 degrees and under the basking light is around 85 degrees.

Here's where I think I went terribly wrong. I feed him every day. We never transitioned from daily feedings to a couple of times a week and he will literally beg for food at feeding time by "flapping" his arms in the water to get my attention. This is the only time he ever does that and I assumed it was because he was hungry.

Please advise!

[steve]

The shell looks like this because he has not shed properly which is usually due to poor habitat and overfeeding/bad diet. As for the red mark, it's possible its a breach around the seam as those areas are softer than the shell. Its possible that many of those scutes are lifting up and not fully shedding. This traps water and debris under and allows these types of infection to grow.

I would try to see which scutes are loose, and do a gentle cleaning/scrubbing. Dry docking also usually helps but the shell is in pretty rough shape. I would recommend you have a reptile/herp vet take a look and go from there.

[Ozzy]

Hi, just joined here. We have two turtles at my job, both rescued from our parking lot with no habitat around our office girls put them in a tank. One is a Northern Spotted at least 5-7 years old since he's been in the tank 5 years and was a fully grown 6". The other is a northern or eastern painted that we found as a hatchling 8 months ago. They put the hatchling in the tank and the two have gotten along great, but in the past two days the male has been climbing on top of the smaller one who is now about 4-5" and pushing the little down to the bottom of the tank. We're not sure of the sex but now we assume the small one is a female. Obviously at 8 months she's not sexually mature. My question is why all of a sudden is this happening. Has the female matured enough that the male now wants to mate? We have them in a 20 gal tank filed half way. I know it's a bit small but it was originally only for the one turtle and then a hatchling that was maybe the size of a quarter but has since grown and we are looking for a bigger tank. But before we go big I thought to seek advice about separating them and getting another 20 gal tank rather than the 50 gal we planned. Here's a [picture from July and from last week to see the size difference.

[steve]

Aggression usually slowly builds, so I would just guess that it is probably just beginning and will get progressively worse.

[Ozzy]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed the "recent" picture didn't load so here it is from a week ago before this started. Today so far is a good day and everything seems back to normal. Is it possible it's a mating ritual and after a few days is passes, sort of like when a female dog is in heat and males act aggressive? It's only happened 'in the water' and the male follows behind and climbs on top from back. And if it is aggression, is that something that comes and goes and we can expect it again even if it's been calm for a few days? This morning when we came in they were both on their basking rock side by side waiting for breakfast.

PS if it helps I can get pictures if someone can tell the gender on the smaller one. The spotted we're pretty sure is a male by its head/neck markings from what we're told.


Thank again for the help.

[steve]

It doesn't sound like its related to mating. Aggression comes and goes at first, but it will usually escalate to the point where separation is necessary. Smaller turtles are harder to tell what sex they are, usually the signs of males become obvious when they get bigger.

[Ozzy]

Thanks for the help. Now onto my next issue. We've decided to take your advice and separate them and I've volunteered to take the smaller turtle home with me and set up a new tank for him/her. I've been looking into these LED full spectrum lights. The ones I've found don't say anything about use for a turtle, just fish. Are they sufficient to replace a typical UV light or is there a particular UV you recommend or a basking/UV combo? I don't like the fluorescent UV because you have to change them every few months so I'm seeking a better alternative if there is one. I'm also no keen on the typical two lamps resting on top of the enclosure cover because I'll keeping in in my living room so trying to keep it neat and sleek

[steve]

I have not tried or tested LED full spectrum lights, but you will still need a second bulb to provide heat. If you want to use a single bulb, you will need to look for a Mercury Vapor Bulb... T-Rex and Mega Ray were popular brands years ago. You can use a single incandescent light bulb (difficult to find now) if you also take your turtle outdoors for some actual Sun. A tube shaped fluorescent UV might look a bit more discreet in your living room but the tank would need a "hood". They also sell lamp fixtures that hold 2 bulbs (a UVB and a heat bulb) and that seems to be the easiest and most affordable solution.